Pragma Build

The Handover

A business nobody can explain does not sell.

The knowledge is in the owner’s head. A buyer walks in, sees a job instead of an asset, and walks out. We go into the building, work through it role by role, and hand the whole business back written down.

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A wide aisle in a busy machine shop, two rows of CNC machines running and about ten people at work. Down the middle of the aisle a plant manager walks with a second man who is photographing a machine.
  • 76%of Canadian small business owners plan to exit within ten years
  • $2T+in business assets set to change hands
  • 9%have a formal succession plan written down

Source: Canadian Federation of Independent Business, 10 January 2023.

Where this usually starts

Which one of these is the business?

If more than two of these are true, the sale is going to stall on due diligence.

  • The owner is the only one who knows why a job gets refused.
  • There are no written procedures, or there are, and nobody follows them.
  • Nobody can list the equipment with serial numbers without walking the floor.
  • The safety program is a binder somebody put together five years ago.
  • Pricing lives in the owner’s head and changes depending on the customer.
  • The one supplier relationship that matters is a personal friendship.
  • The listing has been up more than nine months.

The package

What the new owner gets handed

One package, built from inside the business, that answers the questions a new owner asks in his first week. What kind of paint do we buy. Who runs this department. What is the procedure here. Is there a safety program written.

  • Written procedures.

    How the work is actually done, taken from watching it and read back to the person who does it. Each one names who signs off and when it was last checked on the floor.

  • Every role, described.

    Not an org chart. What each person does, what they decide on their own, and what they bring to the owner.

  • Machines and serial numbers.

    Every machine walked and read off the plate, with the year, the service interval, who services it, and the manual scanned.

  • The safety program.

    What exists, what is current, and what is behind. Written from the binder and from what happens on the floor, then compared.

  • Training material.

    What a new hire needs on day one for each role, so the business can replace a person without losing the method.

  • Suppliers and accounts.

    Who you buy from, the account numbers, the terms, the rep’s name, and what each account is actually used for.

  • A day in the life.

    A walkthrough of an ordinary day, department by department, so a buyer can see the business run before he owns it.

  • One dashboard over all of it.

    Everything in one place, searchable in plain words. Ask it a question the way you would ask a foreman, and it answers and names the document.

See a finished package

Delivery

Two ways to run it

Same package either way. Which one fits depends on the size of the business and how far away it is.

On site

We come to you

  • Two of us in the building with recording gear
  • Every department walked, every role interviewed
  • Machines photographed and read off the plate
  • Nothing for your staff to prepare

Remote kit

You film it, we build it

  • We send the question list, role by role
  • Your people film, photograph and answer
  • Review calls fill the gaps
  • Cheaper, and it suits a smaller shop

The buyers

Who this is for

  • Business brokers

    Listing has gone stale

    A listing that will not move because the buyer cannot see past the owner. The package is what makes it sellable, and it is a reason to go back to a seller you have run out of things to say to.

  • Acquirers and roll-ups

    Every deal, every time

    Put it in the buying playbook. Before close it is due diligence you can read. After close it is the handover, so the business runs on week one instead of week twelve.

  • Accountants and advisors

    Client is planning an exit

    The client who says he will sell in three years and has nothing written down. This is the work that has to happen first, and it is better done early than under offer.

  • Owners

    Selling, or stepping back

    You built it and it runs on you. Whether you are selling or just want to stop being the only one who knows, the answer is the same: get it out of your head and onto something a person can read.

What this is not

  • Not a valuation
  • Not a broker
  • Not an ERP
  • Not a software subscription
  • Not a binder that sits on a shelf
  • Not off a template

Every business gets what fits it. A ten person shop and a hundred person plant do not get the same package, and neither one gets somebody else’s.

Start with a walkthrough.

We come and look at the operation, then tell you in writing what documenting it would take and what it would cover. Every job is quoted on its own.

Book a Walkthrough See a finished package